Cousins

When I was growing up, Grandma & Grandpa Cloyd would come and visit us every so often. Quite a few times they would bring my cousins, Jennifer and James with, which was the best thing that could happen to us kids in the early 90s. Jennifer & James were about the coolest people we had ever met. They were from Arkansas, and had a cool accent. They did cool 'rebellious' things, and never ever got caught. They were a little older than Scott and I, so they were always a little bit smarter, a little bit stronger, and a lot more cool. They knew the coolest card games, and how to cheat at them. Sometimes James would go by 'Jimmy-Dean' or 'James Dean,' which sounded even better. Maybe his middle name is Dean, I don't remember. But James would strut around acting and singing like THE James Dean, and even though we had no idea who James Dean was, we thought that was cool too.

When I was about 6, Grandma & Grandpa and Jennifer & James came to visit. Jennifer and I were out exploring the old buildings and fields at our house. For some reason, wherever we lived, there were countless septic tanks, cisterns, underground grain bins and stuff like that around. Well, Jennifer hopped on the lid of one of these septic tanks, the lid slid off, and Jennifer fell in. Somehow while falling, she had grabbed the side of the opening, and was dangling down inside the septic tank above the water, or whatever gross looking gunk was down there.

As a side note, I remember 'storing' life fish in these tanks at one point in my childhood. I guess to keep them so we could catch them later? I have no idea. I never remember re-catching them. Poor fish.

Anyway, Jennifer said, "Sheena, run get Ann!" (James and Jennifer always called my mother 'Ann' instead of 'Annee,' which added to their coolness.) This was my five minutes of fame. I was the hero. I ran with my little 6-year-old legs up the hill to our house, maybe an eighth of a mile. Breathlessly, I reported: "Jennifer fell in the -" Who knows what I called it. I'm sure I didn't know what it was back then. Anyway, mom ran down the hill, I'm sure with kids and grandparents following not far behind. She grabbed Jennifer's arms and pulled her out. She was still as calm as a cucumber, and  when mom tells this story, she always says, "And after all that, her glasses were still on! They hadn't even fallen off!"

A few years down the road, we moved to the wild western part of the state. When Jennifer & James came to visit, the best thing to do was make rafts and play in the ponds on the ranch. We spend hours...DAYS out there, building rafts, catching mud guppies, having moss wars, swimming and more.  I'm sure I learned more about flotation then than I ever did in a classroom.

One summer, all of us went on vacation. We would drive a fifth wheel camper, which was never accessible until all of the bikes, sail boards, and rafts had been removed from the inside. Once they were, we loved spending time on the water. One day, Jennifer and I had this great idea to paddle across the lake. We were probably 11 and 15, but it was a large lake. We tied the sail board and raft together, and off we went. As we got to the other side, I was exhausted, and then the wind picked up. We started back, as the wind blew us further and further down the lake, instead of across. I feel for Jennifer, because I remember being no help, and she had to paddle through the wind, towing me behind. Mom and Grandma and Grandpa were on the shore, watching us come back, and since mom and Grandma never ever worried - oh wait, that's not right. Grandma and mom were worried sick, and contemplating if there were roads far enough down the lake to go and pick us up. Somehow, though, Jennifer managed to paddle us back within a few hundred yards of our campsite. Hopefully Jennifer didn't mind too much, maybe she was paying me back for saving her from the septic tank.